REV DAVID FAREY: We can help put things right with our choices

Two seasonal topics of complaint hitting the headlines are the state of our roads with all the number of potholes and the state of the NHS and the deteriorating quality of accident and emergency provision.

Both roads and the NHS are very apparent to most people though as they are so public.

But there are many other things that are more hidden but should perhaps give us even greater cause for concern and energise us to active complaining.

Now just a memory for many was the major water main burst around Hailsham nearly two years ago.

I have been pursuing a report on how the leak was handled by the authorities for all this time and it still hasn’t been published by SE Water.

The last heard was that a Wealden District Councillor was still chasing and getting nowhere!

Another matter of deep concern is that a new school is planned for Hellingly, a much needed extension of the local primary school provision.

The county had earmarked its opening for September 2018.

Bids were in by the end of September last year and yet at present there is no deadline for when the DfE is going to announce who has won the bid.

The clock is ticking and the likelihood is that it will be so delayed that an opening of September 2018 is a vain hope.

Meanwhile there are desperate families in the town who will struggle to get their children into a school when the time comes.

That has also got to be a reason for complaint.

It is a bit like the old chestnut of complaint against God.

If he is a God of love why does he allow evil to exist? But where does the accountability lie?

The evil acts committed are carried out by people, not God!

We are the ones who can put things right by our choices.

The pothole problem may not be so bad if people didn’t hammer the roads so much by going too fast, and the NHS may not be under such a strain if we worked a bit harder at preventing ill health and keeping a bit fitter!

We can all choose to make a bad situation worse or seek to ease the pressure on a buckling resource.

But so too SE Water and the DfE can put things right by their choices.

Perhaps we should be looking at some less apparent matters and putting our powers of complaining to work on those who are accountable